Jun 6

Written by:
6/6/2011 10:36 PM 

The upcoming DotNetnuke 6.0 release is being touted as one of the most momentous releases ever.  With the history of DNN, that’s saying a lot!

DotNetNuke has gone through Revolutions, Re-writes, Renovations, Restoration, Reorganizations, and in some ways a Resurrection.  So when someone says that this is the “most momentous release ever”;  I have to ask the question “Why”? 

First let me say that if you are in the Orlando area on Tuesday June 7th, be sure to plan to be at ODUG.  The Mighty Will Strohl will be showing us all (well a lot anyway) of the juicy tidbits of Version 6.  We might get some of the official answers to the “Why” question there.   I’ll do a major blog update after the meeting, but until then, here is something to think about:

It was announced in February of this year that the Core Framework of DotNetNuke would be maintained in C# rather than VB.  When it was announced, I had mixed emotions about this change.  Actually, I still do.  However, it is a done deal, and I am not going to complain because C# is just as good as VB.  The important issue about the switch to C# is not the language issue, it is the Resurrection issue.  In recent history, before the current corporation incarnation, DotNetNuke 5 was so late coming out that there was a worry that it might not ever be released.  In the early 5x releases there were several major stumbles (let's call them “lessons learned”). The DNN Phoenix was struggling to be reborn.  Now with Version 6.0 coming out with a converted codebase, we will see how well the lessons were learned.   If we get a beautiful Rising Phoenix, 2011 will long be remembered as the year that started the astronomical growth of DotNetNuke.  On-the-other-hand; if we get a bug infested vulture… well, let’s just say that there may not be time enough in the quickly evolving technology timeline for another rebirth.

What do I expect?  Well, I actually expect a pretty solid release.  I will be very disappointed if version 6.0 is not the “Rising Phoenix” mentioned above.  Why?  I think that DNN Corp has learned some very hard lessons.  First, having slowed the release cycle, they have more time to do testing.  Second, they have instituted test projects that are available with the source code.   Third, they got burned with some of the 5x releases, because the then existent load testing proved woefully inadequate.  I don’t think they will risk getting burned there again.  Lastly, (there are more reasons, but I am going to stop here), the Corp knows how important this release is.  This release will tell the technical community how well run the DotNetNuke Corp really is.   This release will be a referendum on the Corps decisions, policies, practices, and plans.  I KNOW they plan to succeed!

The calendar is set:  Web Connections in June will be a world wide release of the DNN 6.0 plan (maybe even a beta by then).  Scheduled release of DNN 6.0 in July.  DotNetNuke World – November 9th – 11th in Orlando. 

Watching for the Phoenix!  

Darrell Hardy